Actual and perceived response time, user interface, and security via usage patterns

• US 6,779,119 B1
• Filed: 06/30/1999
• Issued: 08/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Moshfeghi, Mehran, De Greef, Bart
• Primary Examiner(s): Darrow, Justin T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nobahar, Abdulhakim
• Application Number:
  US09/343,610
• Time in Patent Office: 1,875 Days
• Field of Search: 713/201, 709/223, 709/203, 709/219, 707/2, 707/6
• US Class Current: 726/23
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0862 with prefetch
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/172 Caching, prefetching or hoarding of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/6022 Using a prefetch buffer or dedicated prefetch cache
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/6024 History based prefetching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

A variety of performance optimization techniques are provided that are based upon a history of a user'"'"'s usage patterns. To reduce actual response time, the system prefetches information in anticipation of the user'"'"'s request. To reduce perceived response time, if a response to the user'"'"'s request is likely to be delayed, the system initiates other anticipated fast-response processes for the user. To ease the user'"'"'s interaction with the system, the user'"'"'s interface is dynamically modified to facilitate the entry of anticipated requests. To improve security, increased security measures are invoked when the user'"'"'s request pattern is inconsistent with prior request patterns. At a system level, performance assessments and optimizations, including dynamic load balancing, are based on the prior usage patterns of mulitple users.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

a database containing a usage log of the computer system by at least one user, wherein said usage log includes a list of previously issued commands and correlated by said command'"'"'s usage pattern;

a data miner configured to offer a sequential list of anticipated commands, also referred to as anticipated requests, personalized for said at least one user, wherein said data miner utilizes said at least one user'"'"'s said usage log data to create the sequential list of anticipated commands and assigning a cost value to each of the commands of the sequential list of anticipated commands;

a command processor for processing user requests and for determining projected required time for completion of a user request from the cost value, wherein if said projected required time is greater than a predefined time value said processor executes other fast-response commands selected from the sequential list of anticipated commands in parallel with the user request;

a cache management system for marking contents accessed by processing said user requests for deletion based on a usage pattern associated with said at least one user.

2. The computer system of claim 1, further including:

a prefetcher for initiating a processing task based on at least one command from said personalized list of anticipated commands in anticipation of said at least one user'"'"'s initial needs, wherein said processing task includes retrieving at least one document or initiating at least one command anticipated, by the data miner, as being requested by said at least one user but which may not have been previously requested.

3. A computer system as in claim 1, wherein said list of anticipated commands includes at least one command from a group comprising of:

application launch, site navigation, database query, document retrieval, and administration.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the data miner utilizes one or more usage patterns of said usage log, selected from the group consisting of:

time-independent patterns, location-independent patterns, time-dependent patterns, location-dependent patterns, and time-and-location-dependent patterns, for the purpose of offering said sequential list of anticipated commands.

5. The computer system of claim 1, further including a security monitor that provides a security assessment that is based on the current request of the user and the at least one anticipated request of the user, and wherein the command processor also provides the response in dependence upon the security assessment.

6. The computer system of claim 1, further including a user interface configured based upon the at least one anticipated request of the user and facilitates reception of the current request of the user, said user interface being dependent upon said usage pattern associated with said at least one user, such that said user interface for a first user is different than that of a second user where the first user and the second user have different usage patterns.

7. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the prefetcher includes a cache storage that stores the prefetched result corresponding to the at least one anticipated request.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the prefetcher includes the cache management system that deallocates portions of the cache storage based upon the usage pattern associated with the user.

16. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the cost value is calculated from any number of criteria selected from the group consisting of at least:

retrieval time, priority, display time, file size and frequency of request.

9. A computer system comprising:

a database containing a usage log of the computer system by at least one user, wherein said usage log includes a list of previously issued commands and correlated by said command'"'"'s usage pattern;

a data miner configured to offer a sequential list of anticipated commands, also referred to as anticipated requests, personalized for said at least one user, wherein said data miner utilizes said at least one user'"'"'s said usage log data to create the sequential list of anticipated commands;

a user interface that facilitates a reception of a current request of a user based upon at least one anticipated request of the user, said user interface being dependent upon a usage pattern associated with said at least one user, such that said user interface for a first user is different than that of a second user where the first user and the second user have different usage patterns;

a command processor for processing user requests and for determining projected required time for completion of a user request, wherein if said projected required time is greater than a predefined time value said processor executes other fast-completion commands selected from the sequential list of anticipated commands in parallel with the user request; and

a cache management system for marking contents accessed by processing said user requests for deletion based on said usage pattern associated with said at least one user.

10. The computer system of claim 9, further including a security monitor that provides a security assessment that is based on the current request of the user and the at least one anticipated request of the user, wherein the command processor also provides the response in dependence upon the security assessment.

11. A computer system comprising:

a database containing a usage log of the computer system by at least one user, wherein said usage log includes a list of previously issued commands and correlated by said command'"'"'s usage pattern;

a data miner configured to offer a sequential list of anticipated commands, also referred to as anticipated requests, personalized for said at least one user, wherein said data miner utilizes said at least one user'"'"'s said usage log data to create the sequential list of anticipated commands;

a command processor for processing user requests and for determining projected required time for completion of a user request, wherein if said projected required time is greater than a predefined time value said processor executes other fast-completion commands selected from the sequential list of anticipated commands in parallel with the user request;

a plurality of server processors, each server of the plurality of server processors having a server capacity;

a server allocator that provides a communications path between the at least one user and a selected server of the plurality of server processors in dependence upon the at least one anticipated request of the user and the server capacity of the selected server, wherein said communications path is selected based on an anticipated traffic load determined from a usage pattern associated with said at least one user; and

a cache management system for marking contents accessed by processing said user requests for deletion based on said usage pattern associated with said at least one user.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the communications path has a bandwidth, and the server allocator provides the communications path between the user and the selected server in further dependence upon the bandwidth.

13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein communications among the plurality of server processors are via network paths that each have an associated bandwidth, and the selected server includes a prefetcher that initiates a processing task based on at least one anticipated request and also based the bandwidth of at least one of the network paths.

14. A method for determining system performance, comprising:

creating a database containing a usage log of the computer system by at least one user, said usage log defining said at least one user'"'"'s usage pattern of the computer system, includes a list of previously issued commands and correlated by said command'"'"'s usage patterns;

offering by a data miner a sequential list of anticipated commands personalized for said at least one user, wherein said data miner utilizes said at least one user'"'"'s said usage log data to create the sequential list of anticipated commands;

simulating a response of a system using the prior user requests of the database of usage patterns to provide thereby simulated performance parameters that correspond to measures of the system performance; and

marking contents accessed by processing said user requests for deletion based on said at least one user'"'"'s usage pattern.

15. The method of claim 14, further including modifying the system in dependence upon the simulated performance parameters.